BOLTON -- The Nashoba Regional baseball team already achieved a major milestone, winning its first ever district title. But the Chieftains have loftier goals ahead of them, starting tonight at 7 p.m. when they square off against Westfield in the state semifinals at Tivan Field with a chance to advance to the state championship.

"Nashoba made it to the Division 2 District championship game in 1979, but this is the first time ever that any Nashoba team has won a district title," Nashoba head coach Chuck Schoolcraft said. "This is big for the program. We fell short the last couple years, but if you weren't interested in baseball at Nashoba before Saturday, you've got to be now.

Nashoba entered the Central Mass District Tournament as the one-seed, and has strung an impressive 20-3 record to this point. The Chieftains defeated perennial power Leominster 2-1 Saturday at Tivnan Field in order to hoist district hardware for the first time. The win marked the first in a series of goals the team has going forward.

"We're 4-2 against Leominster over the last few seasons," Schoolcraft said. "They beat us in the tournament last year, which was the big one. They beat us in the regular season this year. From day one, the kids set goals. They worked really hard to achieve them. These kids come and work hard, have a goal, and get it. I hope they reach their goal and if they don't, it won't be for a lack of trying.

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A veteran lineup of five seniors and five juniors is one of the biggest factors for the Chieftains success thus far and the experience will likely play a big role in Nashoba's chances going forward.

Pitching has separated Nashoba from the competition, as the team's earned run average is hovering around one run per game. Nick Campana proved to be one of the team's surprise weapons from the bump, posting a 5-0 record with a 0.97 ERA. Drew Foster, Nick Borsari and Jack Sarnoski are other key hurlers.

"We're talented and have gotten great leadership this year," Schoolcraft said. "Our pitching has been excellent. Why the pitching has been great is that these guys have been throwing strikes and we're making plays in the field. The defense has been awesome."

Sarnoski (6-0, 0.96 ERA) will get the start in today's semifinal battle and currently finds himself as one of the top hurlerss on the team. The senior pitcher had a remarkable season given the fact that he sat last year out with an injury.

"It is amazing what (Sarnoski) accomplished so far," Schoolcraft said. "Jack's a good hard thrower and throws strikes and has got a nice curve ball."

To add insult to injury for opponents, Nashoba's offense is just as good as its defense. Leftfielder Campana, centerfielder John Militano, and short stop Jordan Edmonds (.333 batting average) provide a potent punch from the plate, while infielders Foster (.333 batting average), Ian Coull (.340 BA) and Sarnoski (.322 BA) are other explosive offensive weapons.

"We have six guys hitting over .300," Schoolcraft said. "We're hitting .306 or .307 as a team. We've got a great group of kids and to get this far you have to have great team chemistry."

This is not Schoolcraft's first jaunt into the depths of the state tournament, as he won a title coaching Hudson High back in the late 1990's. The Nashoba skipper sees similarities between that team, and his current Chieftain squad.

"I always reference back to 1999 in Hudson," Schoolcraft said. "That wasn't the most talented Hudson team I was with over there, but they were a great group of kids, with great chemistry and everything. And this Nashoba team reminds me so much of that team back then."

Westfield was a bit of a cinderalla story out of the Western bracket. The team earned the seventh seed, then knocked off the top three seeds, including No. 1 Agawam in the Western final by a 6-4 margin. Despite being an unfamiliar opponent for Nashoba, the strategy will remain the same.

"We're not going to change anything and we're staying the same way we've been for the whole time." Schoolcraft said. "Right now isn't the time to change anything. We're just going to keep on doing what we've been doing, I tell the boys if they do that we'll be just fine."

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